Monthly Archives: June 2013

Londoner, Geoff Osler contacted me about an early eighteenth-century walnut bureau he is restoring. My ears pricked up when he mentioned he was removing the later bracket feet and reinstating original style threaded bun feet. I’ve mentioned bun feet with … Continue reading →

Sotheby’s upcoming Treasures 2013 auction includes a number of exceptional art works dating from the Renaissance to the twentieth-century. Amongst the furniture offered for sale is lot 28; a parcel gilt, fruitwood, tulipwood and marquetry semi-elliptical pier table made for … Continue reading →

With anything other than square drop-leaf table tops, I form the table-leaf joints* and chop in the hinges prior to cutting the top’s outline to ensure a smooth transition across the leaves’ joints. *The folding wooden ruler – from whence … Continue reading →

Coincidentally, on a morning when I would have preferred to dispatch an apprentice to scrape the frost off my workbench, today marks the passing of the Health and Morals of Apprentices Act 1802, whereafter one was expected to mollycoddle the … Continue reading →

Following on from Picture This V, I discovered further examples of Thomas Chippendale’s favourite style of bail fitted back-to-front, this time, in a Bonhams sale. Two reversed bails on mahogany linen press. (Bonhams) Jack Plane

There’s nothing particularly complicated or exceptional about the construction of the table’s frame other than possibly, the (aforementioned) upper gate pivot. After drawboring all the joints, I assembled the gates (securing the rails to the stiles with 1/4″ oak pegs) … Continue reading →

With this particular style of gateleg table – where the gates pivot within the table’s frame – it is important that the gates do not impinge upon the lowered leaves when closed. To this end, the flying gate stile and … Continue reading →

In the comments following Additional Examples of Maritime Case Furniture there was some conjecture about the proliferation of cabin furniture on board ship in the eighteenth-century and how it was secured while on the high seas. A fair amount of quality … Continue reading →

Standing well short of the standard dining table height of 29-1/2″ (749mm), these diminutive gateleg tables were used by one or two persons for the purpose of taking tea or consuming informal meals in the privacy of a parlour or … Continue reading →